The Arthur Chung Conference Centre will house the 12th Parliament
With the convening of the 12th Parliament tomorrow (September 1), a number of matters are expected to be addressed.
These include the election of a Speaker and Deputy Speaker and the presentation of the budget proposals from 22 constitutional agencies.
This is according to the order paper for the sitting of the session, which takes place at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), rather than the usual Parliament Building, owing to COVID-19 and the need to socially distance.
Collectively, the constitutional agencies have pitched $11.2 billion in budgetary proposals, which will have to be examined and either revised or approved untouched. The largest proposal for money comes from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), which has requested $4.943 billion for both its current and capital estimates up to December 31, 2020.
Also submitting its proposal is the Supreme Court of Judicature, which has proposed a total of $2.443 billion for its current and capital expenses. The third largest proposal was from the Parliament Office itself, which requested $1.799 billion.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Auditor General presented a proposal for its current and capital expenses of $908.6 million. When it comes to constitutional agencies and their budgets, the Audit Office has previously had a struggle getting the funds it requested from the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC).
In 2018, the last time a budget was passed, the former Government cut millions from the Audit Office’s requested $894.2 million. Considering the fact that the Audit Office performs the vital tasks of auditing the Government and documenting financial malfeasance, the then Government’s act of cutting its financial proposal was strongly condemned.
Over the course of the year, there are projects enacted by the previous government which were shrouded in mystery and which are likely to be audited. They include the Ocean View Hotel turned COVID-19 sanatorium, for which an audit has already started.
Proposals also came from the Public and Police Service Commissions ($150.6 million); Teaching Service Commission ($117 million); Ethnic Relations Commission ($220.8 million); and the Judicial Service Commission ($10 million for current estimates).
Other commissions that submitted proposals were the Public Procurement Commission ($206.4 million); Women and Gender Equality Commission ($58.3 million); Rights of the Child Commission ($46 million); Human Rights Commission ($25.9 million) and Indigenous People’s Commission ($24.3 million).
Speakers
Meanwhile, the order paper also sets out that a Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly will be elected. In fact, it is listed as the first order of business, after the roll call of Members of Parliament (MPs) is completed.
The process for electing a Speaker entails first a nomination and then a vote. With 33 seats in the National Assembly, it is likely that whoever the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) nominates will be elected Speaker, as was the case with the Speaker of the 11th Parliament, Dr Barton Scotland, who A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) nominated in 2015.
There has been no Parliament since May 23, 2019 on account of the successful passage of a no-confidence motion against the APNU/AFC Administration on December 21, 2018. But although the motion was passed, the APNU/AFC Government refused to demit office and brought a slew of legal challenges on the validity of the motion. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) later affirmed the no-confidence motion.
During that time, only members on the governing side attended parliamentary sittings. Members of the then Opposition PPP/C had committed to not attending sittings until after elections were held, as the successful passage of the motion required that elections be held three months thereafter on March 21, 2019.
But GECOM failed to hold General and Regional Elections within the constitutionally mandated period, mainly because it was not prepared for the snap elections. Parliament was later dissolved on December 30, 2019, paving the way for the March 2, 2020 elections.
The elections results are as follow: PPP/C will hold a majority in the National Assembly with 33 seats; the APNU/AFC coalition has 31 seats, while the joinder parties – A New and United Guyana (ANUG); Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), and The New Movement (TNM) – will have one seat.
